Consumer Economics

Drawing on unprecedented interviews with former Wal-Mart executives and a wealth of staggering data�including facts such as this: Americans spend $36 million an hour at Wal-Mart stores, this text is an intimate look at a business that is dramatically reshaping the American economy.

Richard H. Thaler has spent his career studying the radical notion that the central agents in the economy are humans - predictable, error-prone individuals. Misbehaving is his arresting, frequently hilarious account of the struggle to bring an academic discipline back down to earth - and change the way we think about economics, ourselves, and our world.

Too often, textbooks turn the noteworthy details of economics into tedious discourse that would put even Joseph Stiglitz to sleep. Economics 101 cuts out the boring explanations and instead provides a hands-on lesson that keeps you engaged as you explore how societies allocate their resources for maximum benefit. From quantitative easing to marginal utility, this primer is packed with hundreds of entertaining tidbits and concepts that you won't be able to get anywhere else.

Spread through the public in the form of popular stories, ideas can go viral and move markets - whether it's the belief that tech stocks can only go up or that housing prices never fall. Whether true or false, stories like these - transmitted by word of mouth, by the news media, and increasingly by social media - drive the economy by driving our decisions about how and where to invest, how much to spend and save, and more. But despite the obvious importance of such stories, most economists have paid little attention to them. Narrative Economics sets out to change that.

In this signal work of history, Bancroft Prize winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Lizabeth Cohen shows how the pursuit of prosperity after World War II fueled our pervasive consumer mentality and transformed American life. Trumpeted as a means to promote the general welfare, mass consumption quickly outgrew its economic objectives and became synonymous with patriotism, social equality, and the American Dream.

This audiobook explains why people buy - and how to use that knowledge to improve pricing, increase sales, and create better, "brain-friendly" brand messaging. Become a more effective leader with the practical tools in this book.

Our world is being transformed by the Internet and the near limitless choice that it provides to consumers; tomorrow's markets belong to those who can take advantage of this. The Long Tail is really about the economics of abundance, an entirely new model for business that is just starting to show its power as unlimited selection reveals new truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it.

Behavioral Economics: The Basics is the first book to provide a rigorous yet accessible overview of the growing field that attempts to uncover the psychological processes which mediate all the economic judgments and decisions we make. With recommended further readings throughout, this book is essential for all students taking courses in behavioral economics, economic psychology, consumer psychology, microeconomicsm and game theory, and also for professionals looking for an accessible introduction to the topic.

Discover the hidden forces that drive consumer behavior and learn how to harness them to elevate your marketing strategy. Unlock the Secrets of the Consumer Mind: Understand how memory, emotion, and repetition influence purchasing decisions. Explore real-world case studies from leading brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, and Dove. Learn how to create marketing campaigns that resonate on a subconscious level. Why This Book Is Essential for Marketers: Written by a seasoned marketing professional with experience leading campaigns for top beverage companies, this book provides actionable insights ...

Designers and managers hope their products become essential for users-integrated into their lives like Instagram, Lyft, and others have become. Such deep integration isn't accidental: it's a process of careful design and iterative learning, especially for technology companies. This guide shows you how to apply behavioral science—research that supports many products—to help your users achieve their goals using your product.

The Thank You Economy is about something big, something greater than any single revolutionary platform. It isn't some abstract concept or wacky business strategy—it's real, and every one of us is doing business in it every day, whether we choose to recognize it or not. It's the way we communicate, the way we buy and sell, the way businesses and consumers interact online and offline.

Few things affect the day-to-day lives of everyone more than the economy. Economics is a subject everyone should know at least a little about. How your country’s economy is doing directly affects you, even though you may not be able to see it. Understanding the basic terms and definitions, so when the financial news comes on you won’t have to skip it because you don’t understand it. In this practical glossary, you'll learn about economics, including some of its foundational topics and concepts.

Intriguing and entertaining, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark is a Freakonomics approach to the economics and psychology of the contemporary art world. Why were record prices achieved at auction for works by 131 contemporary artists in 2006 alone, with astonishing new heights reached in 2007? Don Thompson explores the money, lust, and self-aggrandizement of the art world in an attempt to determine what makes a particular work valuable while others are ignored.

The economy says we must always consume more. The planet says we consume too much. Addressing this paradox head-on, acclaimed journalist J. B. MacKinnon asks, What would really happen if we simply stopped shopping? Is there a way to reduce our consumption to Earth-saving levels without triggering economic collapse? Drawing from experts in fields ranging from climate change to economics, MacKinnon investigates how living with less would change our planet, our society, and ourselves. Along the way, he reveals just how much we stand to gain.

Ever since Adam Smith, the central teaching of economics has been that free markets provide us with material well-being, as if by an invisible hand. In Phishing for Phools, Nobel Prize-winning economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller deliver a fundamental challenge to this insight, arguing that markets harm as well as help us. As long as there is profit to be made, sellers will systematically exploit our psychological weaknesses and our ignorance through manipulation and deception.

For centuries, economics was dominated by the idea that we are rational individuals who optimize our own “utility”. Then, in the 1970s, psychologists demonstrated that the reality is a lot messier. We don’t really know what our utility is, and we care about people other than ourselves. We are susceptible to external nudges. And far from being perfectly rational, we are prone to “cognitive biases” with complex effects on decision-making, such as forgetting to prepare for retirement.

Step into a supermarket, and you're not just shopping—you’re being studied, steered, and subtly coerced. Don’t Buy the Cheese pulls back the curtain on the hidden architecture of modern grocery stores, revealing the psychological traps, sensory manipulation, and behavioral economics engineered into every aisle, scent, and shelf. From oversized carts that trick you into buying more, to scent machines that simulate fresh-baked bread, this forensic exposé shows how stores convert your attention into profit—without you ever noticing. This isn't about conspiracy. It's about design. ...

Unlock the mysteries of thriving economies with "Understanding Economic Cycles," your essential guide to the ebb and flow of financial prosperity. This comprehensive eBook delves into the rhythmic dance of economic booms, demystifying the forces that propel growth and the delicate balance required to sustain it. Begin your journey with an insightful exploration of economic booms by understanding their defining characteristics and historical significance. Discover why comprehension of these phenomena is crucial for anyone eager to navigate the ever-shifting landscape of global markets. As ...

We live in an age of addiction, from compulsive gaming and shopping to binge eating and opioid abuse. Sugar can be as habit-forming as cocaine, researchers tell us, and social media apps are hooking our kids. But what can we do to resist temptations that insidiously and deliberately rewire our brains? Nothing, David Courtwright says, unless we understand the history and character of the global enterprises that create and cater to our bad habits.

Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. The reason, the authors explain, is that, being human, we are all susceptible to various biases that can lead us to blunder. Our mistakes can make us poor and unhealthy. We often make bad decisions about education, personal finance, health care, family, and the environment.